I worked for the State Department for many years. And I worked for an airline out of Europe — an administrative job. When my husband retired, I decided this would be a good thing to do.

what we do

I sell a lot of jewelry and apparel. Lots of decorative things. Department 56 (miniature) villages. Palazzo pants. Snoozie’s slippers. I carry a big collection of Sea Glass jewelry. We sell lots of handbags — New York classics. Also collectable Willow Tree figurines — for instance, angels. We also carry Neqwa hand painted Christmas ornaments year round. And Jim Shore collectibles — Santas and angels and animals. They look like wooden carved figurines. We carry lots of wall art and a whole collection of different kinds of shells. We carry Italian pottery and Murano glass — handblown Italian glassware such as vases or bowls. We carry three foot to four foot tall shorebirds — a snowy egret and a blue heron — for patios, outdoors. …

And we have our own line of jams, jellies and preserves — sweet Vidalia onion relish, peach preserves, peach butter.

employees

10, all part-time. Some of them have been here for 20 some years…We have great employees.

why we’re successful

Because we’re adaptable. I learned a long time ago, if you carry the same thing, it doesn’t work. You are always for what is new and what is popular.

We have social media. We have an email club. We have coupons. For instance just after the hurricane, we had a coupon for 25 per cent off for two weeks.

motto

Be successful in whatever you do. If you don’t want to be successful, don’t do it.

professional achievement

Making the store go.

Retail is one of the hardest industries there is. I’ve seen so many stores close. It’s heart breaking. I’m very lucky to own my own store. I don’t have to worry about the rent going up. A lot of Hallmark stores, small gift shops have closed. And look at all the restaurants that have closed.

personal achievement

Being alive, I think. Alive and healthy.

future plans

The future kind of takes care of itself.

My husband and I love to travel. We’ll go to Aruba in October, Puerto Rico in February. It keeps you interested in life, seeing other cultures

tips for other businesses

When you go into business, you’re going to put a lot of money into it for three to five years. It takes time to evolve. If you’re planning to live out of that business (at first), that is not what you should be doing.

And you can’t own your own business and not be there. You have to be hands-on. You better know what’s going on in your own business. … When I started this business, I thought I would have a manager and I would come in and out. But that’s not what works.

(Still) as I get older. I find I can do other things and not be in the store every minute. If you’ve got good employees, you’ve got the world made.

(Also) when you go into business, you have to have a realistic attitude. And you have to do market research. If you don’t — and you don’t have somebody to support you — it’s not going to work.

company mission statement

Work hard and be successful.

why does this location work for us?

The island people have kept us in business. And out here on Wilmington Island, parking is easy. And the restaurant next door (the Flying Fish) opened and a lot of people see me. … We get ladies who have lunch together and come next door after lunch and get scarves, jewelry, apparel. And we have tourists. That’s why we have a lot of shells, beach things.